A Fatal Mistake
September 14, 1895
Summary
The Grand Fountain, United Order of True Reformers voted away fifty thousand dollars to purchase plans and a copyright without knowing what they were.
Transcription
The action of the Grand Fountain, United Order of True Reformers in voting away fifty thousand dollars for the purchase of plans and copyright from Rev. Wm. W. Browne without knowing what it was buying or having produced before them that which it is alleged they bought, is the most remarkable case of reckless extravagance and blind obedience to machine rule we ever witnessed.
The fact that this same body voted ten thousand dollars more than was asked for the aforesaid plans and copyright which everybody believed to belong to the organization was in line with the previous disposition to violate every precept of discretion and pander to every principle of extravagance.
If this body has the right to give away, without previous notice to the people who elected it, six hundred dollars for horses and carriage, and ten thousand dollars on a purchase, then it has the right to vote away deposits in the bank itself and to make presents to whom it will of the buildings in the cities of this country which belong to the organization. Another singular fact in connection with unheard of action is that the organization has not in clear cash the amount which it has voted to pay one man.
So long as our people are moved by sentiment, without discretion, and yield to machine rule without the proper protest; so long will we continue to demonstrate our inability to handle finance and our unfitness to take our place among the business elements of this country.
It is needless to say that this insane action is the death knell of this grand institution, and proclaims in trumpet tones to the multitude that what they labored for is gone. Selfishness and avariciousness have throttled the interests of the people, confidence has disappeared, and apprehension and fear, the two deadliest foes of capital and finance dwell where peace and tranquility are bound to reign in order that prosperity may live.
It is with sadness we write this, but far-seeing, thoughtful, intelligent people every where will see the truth of what we utter and realize that the True Reformers’ organization has reached the zenith of its glory, the midday of its pristine splendor.
Rev. Browne has made the mistake of his life in accepting such a sacrifice. In the contest within his bosom between personal financial success and a full realization of the Order’s glory, the former won.
The fact that this same body voted ten thousand dollars more than was asked for the aforesaid plans and copyright which everybody believed to belong to the organization was in line with the previous disposition to violate every precept of discretion and pander to every principle of extravagance.
If this body has the right to give away, without previous notice to the people who elected it, six hundred dollars for horses and carriage, and ten thousand dollars on a purchase, then it has the right to vote away deposits in the bank itself and to make presents to whom it will of the buildings in the cities of this country which belong to the organization. Another singular fact in connection with unheard of action is that the organization has not in clear cash the amount which it has voted to pay one man.
So long as our people are moved by sentiment, without discretion, and yield to machine rule without the proper protest; so long will we continue to demonstrate our inability to handle finance and our unfitness to take our place among the business elements of this country.
It is needless to say that this insane action is the death knell of this grand institution, and proclaims in trumpet tones to the multitude that what they labored for is gone. Selfishness and avariciousness have throttled the interests of the people, confidence has disappeared, and apprehension and fear, the two deadliest foes of capital and finance dwell where peace and tranquility are bound to reign in order that prosperity may live.
It is with sadness we write this, but far-seeing, thoughtful, intelligent people every where will see the truth of what we utter and realize that the True Reformers’ organization has reached the zenith of its glory, the midday of its pristine splendor.
Rev. Browne has made the mistake of his life in accepting such a sacrifice. In the contest within his bosom between personal financial success and a full realization of the Order’s glory, the former won.
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Lower Left Quadrant
Contributed By
Cord Fox
Citation
“A Fatal Mistake,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed February 19, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1459.